Obedience

"Obedience" was a song that we used to sing as kids growing up in church. The first line says, "Obedience is the very best way, to show that you believe." I would challenge that and say that obedience is the only way to show that you believe.

In our Sunday School class we have been going through the life of Moses, using Chuck Swindoll's book as our guide. He brought a point out about obedience as evidenced in the lives of individuals in the Bible. I got to thinking about that. The individuals that God blessed are those who were obedient to Him and His will. Certainly there were people who were disobedient, and seemingly got away with it. But those individuals whom God poured out His blessings were those who simply took Him at His word, and obeyed.

The example this morning was the Jewish nation on the eve of the exodus from Egypt. If you will read in Exodus 11 you will see God giving them some fairly explicit instructions on how it was to take place. Here you have slaves, who had been in bondage for 430 years, and through Moses God tells them to "each man ask from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor for articles of silver and articles of gold." WOW! Strange request, but all they had to do was obey. And obey they did. The next verse states the they had found favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. They never would have found that out if they had not first obeyed.

In chapter 12 He gives them specific instructions on how they were to prepare and eat their final meal under bondage. Today when we look at the passover, through the cross, we can see pictures of Christ and the cross throughout the entire thing. To the Jewish nation, at this time, it was all foreign to them. Something totally new they had never done or experienced. Yet they obeyed.

Think about this. The Jewish people took Moses at his word, that he in fact was relaying God's instructions. This would be the same Moses who challenged Pharaoh in Chapter 5 which only caused their pain and misery to be increased. This would be the same Moses who killed the Egyptian in chapter 2. A mere man who said he represented Yahweh, and seemed to back it up with a series of plagues. A man who comes onto the scene 430 years into the Jewish opression and announces "it's over, we're leaving!" And yet they obeyed.

Today we have so much more. We have the inspired, infallible Word of God. Literally God's message to us! But many times we simply choose not to obey. For whatever reason. We have more sure information to go on, but we make a conscious decision to be disobedient.

Do you ever wonder why it seems that God isn't blessing His people? Maybe it is as simple as this. We are disobedient. We know what we are supposed to do, but we simply choose not to do it. Maybe I am oversimplifying when I say, if we want God's blessing to be poured out, just obey. Just do it.